Greek word · G2361
θρόμβος
thrombos
drop
A lump, clot or thick drop. Used of curdled milk, clotted blood, and lumps of other thick liquids. Medical writers use it for blood clots (the source of English 'thrombosis').
Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
θρόμβος, -ου, ὁ
(τρέφω, in primary sense to thicken),
a lump, a clot of blood (DCG, ii, 685b): αἵματος, Luke 22:44 (WH, R, mg. omit the passage, see WH, App., 64 ff.).†
(AS)
From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).
In depth
- Range of meaning
A lump, clot or thick drop. Used of curdled milk, clotted blood, and lumps of other thick liquids. Medical writers use it for blood clots (the source of English 'thrombosis').
- Against the English
BSB and NIV say 'drops'. KJV, ESV and WEB say 'great drops', which keeps the sense of size and thickness. Plain 'drops' loses the heaviness.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Aeschylus (Libation Bearers 533, 546) describes a dream in which a snake draws 'a clot of blood' (thrombon haimatos) along with milk. Medical writers in the Hippocratic tradition use the word for clotted blood. It appears only here in the New Testament.
Where it appears
Luke · 1
-
Luke 22:44 θρόμβοι great drops
And in His anguish, He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground.
Here: Not ordinary 'drops' but thick, heavy, clotted drops. The word is used of curdled milk and clotted blood. It suggests large, heavy beads, which KJV's 'great drops' tries to capture.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.